Most people in America are familiar with this passage, even though they rarely crack open a Bible. Let’s start looking at the most obvious feature of the story. Who does God announce the birth of His Son to? Who does He invite to come and see the new Baby? A collection of sheep herders! There is only one announcement of Christ’s birth recorded in the Scriptures, only one invitation from God to anyone to come visit Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus. And that one invitation goes to a bunch of uneducated, smelly, low-class, social and religious outcasts, a bunch of shepherds.
Shepherds were the last people you’d expect God to take notice of. First of all, they were religious outcasts. According to the Jewish religious law, these men were unclean. Their line of work prevented them from participating in the feasts and holy days that made up the Jewish religious calendar. Why? Somebody had to watch the sheep. When everyone else was making the trip to Jerusalem to make sacrifices at the temple, or to participate in one of the annual feasts, they were out in the fields, watching over the sheep. A modern day example might be a trucker or a shift worker, whose job keeps them from regularly attending church. It wasn’t really their fault. Not only that but shepherds were boardline social outcasts. Since they were constantly on the move to find new pasture for their flocks, they were looked on with suspicion. Kind of the way people today might look at gypsies or carnival workers. They were often accused of being thieves. If something came up missing – it must have been those shepherds. They were not permitted to give testimony in a legal proceedings, because their word wasn’t considered trustworthy. And on top of all that, they really didn’t have much contact with other people. They didn’t come home at night. They were with the sheep 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A good shepherd could identify each one of his sheep by sight. He knew his sheep and they knew him.
Now imagine you’re God and you want to announce the most amazing, incredible, joyous news ever; an event which will literarlly change the course of history – the birth of your only Son, Jesus Christ. The birth of the One who will be the Savior of the whole world. Finally He has come! Who do you announce it to? Who do you tell? Who do you invite to come and see? The point is that you would expect an event like the birth of Christ to be announced to the most important people in the nation. Political leaders – kings, governors. Religious leaders – priests, rabbis, other officials. Wealthy merchants. Men and women of distinction. The news media. But none of them got the word. None of them were invited. Only these few poor, shepherds, these social and religious outcasts, received the announcement. So why? Why did God do this? Why did He send His angels to announce the birth of Christ to these shepherds to come and see the Child? Several possible answers have been proposed, such as the fact that Jesus Himself is later called the Good Shepherd, caring for us as His flock. But I prefer a simpler explanation. God wanted to show that His love does not discriminate on the basis of class, or wealth, or social standing. He does not respect kings and princes more than hourly laborers, He does not value priests and pastors above the people in the pews. God does not show favoritism; He does not give preferential treatment to one group of people over another. His love is available to all on the same basis – faith in Jesus Christ, and faith alone. God was demonstrating, by His choice of these humble shepherds to be the first to receive the news of Christ’s birth, that Jesus was not going to be the Savior of only the political and social and religious elite. Jesus was not going to be the Savior only for kings and governors, or popes and priests. Jesus is the Savior of all equally; He doesn’t give preference to any group or any class. Nor does He discriminate on the basis of intelligence, or education, or wealth, or profession, or political power, or social standing, or any of the other qualities that human beings judge by. His love is offered indiscriminately to anyone who will repent and believe, anyone who will trust in Him as Savior.
What does it mean to us? If you identify with the shepherds, it should be very encouraging. I imagine that many nights, as the shepherds sat out in those cold, lonely fields, with nothing but animals to keep them company, they looked over at the village, saw the lights of the homes and heard the faint sound of families, people laughing, and wished they could be a part of that. Maybe you’ve felt that way too. But I have a great news! The best news possible! God loves you! Just like He loved those shepherds. And you are special to Him. Just like those shepherds were special to Him, so special that He gave them the incredible privilege of being the first to hear of Christ’s birth, being the first people other than Joseph and Mary to layeyes on the Son of God, being the first to tell others about Chirst. When they heard the news, they didn’t seek out the religious professionals for a second opinion. They simply accepted what the angels told them. Will you do that today? God didn’t send an angel to give you the news, but He did send me and He did give you His word the Bible. God is inviting you today, just like He invited the shepherds. Will you receive His love? Will you acknowledge your need of forgiveness and put your trust in Jesus Christ for salvation? Understand that you are accepted before God on the same basis as anyone else – not because of anything you are, or anything you have done, but only because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who gave His life and suffered the penalty for your sin so that you could have eternal life and receive forgivensee. Humble yourself before God, so that He doesn’t have to do it for you. Let us do the same, especially at this time of the year, for the sake of all the others who are still waiting to hear the good news.